T H U R S D A Y FEBRUARY 13, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 17
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Director, producer screen Sept. 11 film BY ZOE RIPPLE
Director Daniel Lindsay and Producer Cody Shearer drove cross-country from California to New York City and traveled to the Middle East in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, taping over 140 hours of interview footage. The end product: “Why U.S.?,” a documentary about the causes of the Sept. 11 attacks. The two hosted a screening and discussion about the film on Wednesday night in Salomon 001. To make the film, Lindsay and Shearer interviewed parents of Sept. 11 victims, politicians, professors and scholars from the United States and the Middle East, as well as Muslim radicals and scholars on Islamic law and policy. Interviewees offered many explanations for why the attacks occurred. Some did not find such an attack surprising, given the United States’ power and visibility in the world. “Everyone is accountable,” both the United States and the Muslim world, for what happened on Sept. 11, said Dr. Jane Holl Lute, vice president of the United Nations Foundation, in the film. The United States’ economic status and policy in the region, “McWorld culture,” Middle Eastern media portrayal of America, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and support of Israel in the face of Israeli-Palistinian conflict were also Director Daniel Lindsay discussed his film “Why Us?” at a screening in Salomon.
Friends remember student Mary Interlandi as a unique, spunky and passionate individual BY DANA GOLDSTEIN
When Mary Interlandi traveled, she returned to Brown with armloads of quirky magazines and newspapers. Noah Fulmer ’05, a housemate of Interlandi’s, remembered how much the residents of Plantations House enjoyed the fruits of Interlandi’s trips. “They were all creative, out-of-the-ordinary, spunky,” he said. But “creative,” “out-of-the ordinary” and “spunky” might as well have been
Phi Beta Kappa for class of 2004 Thirty-three juniors were recently elected into the Rhode Island Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa, a national honors society based on grades earned during the first five semesters at Brown. Jordan Bleicher ’04, Deirdre Bloome ’04, Saswat Bohidar ’04, Alexis Briley ’04, Brookes Brown ’04, Sayumi De Silva ’04, Craig Desjardins ’04, Lindsey Doermann ’04, Jared Eddy ’04, Angela Feraco ’04, Adam Fouse ’04, Jesse Goodman ’04, Stephanie Harris ’04, Ethan Horowitz ’04, Andrew Jalil ’04, Ari Johnson ’04, Steven Kaell ’04, Brian Lehpamer ’04, Vanessa Lipschitz ’04, Mallika see PBK, page 4
used to characterize Interlandi herself. A rising sophomore who died Monday in her hometown of Nashville, Tenn., Interlandi, who was on leave from the University, was described by friends as a musicallyinclined and passionate person with diverse intellectual interests. Interlandi was committed to feminism, her friends said, and interested in Buddhism and martial arts. Last semester she started an informal meditation group in Plantations House, where she could often be heard singing while playing the piano or practicing her djambe, an African hand drum. She expressed herself verbally — through slam poetry — and sometimes physically, like when she roller-skated down Thayer Street in the winter dressed in her costume for SexPowerGod. “She was both so strong and so kind,” said Mikaela Holmes ’05, another of Interlandi’s housemates. “Pretty much every day Mary would say something nice to me when she came by my room. … Who else does that?” Interlandi’s personality shone through even as she slept. Fulmer remembered how soundly Interlandi would sleep on the Plantations House couch, even as all sorts of havoc took place around her. “She had this energy, but at the same time, this peace,” he reflected. After taking a semester off last spring, Interlandi returned to Brown in the fall eager to pursue her interests. “She was into feminism, but she was trying to do an independent concentra-
tion called Contemplative Studies,” Holmes said. Even the name of Interlandi’s prospective concentration “was perfect for her,” Holmes added. “(Interlandi’s death) hit me very hard,” said Director of the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center Gail Cohee, who taught Interlandi in GN 10: “Introduction to Feminist Theory.” “I really liked her and found her to be very thoughtful and interesting. I always appreciated how much she engaged with what we were doing in class. “She seemed really interested in the broad range of equity issues and issues of class,” Cohee said. Last spring, Interlandi traveled from Nashville to visit with friends at Brown. “I remember sitting in this tree with her, in the middle of the night, talking,” Holmes said. “We were having this wonderful, lifeaffirming conversation. … She was just so full of life and so magical.” During her semester off last year, Interlandi reported to friends that her time at home was surprisingly fun and busy. This semester, Interlandi was planning on relaxing in Nashville and perhaps taking a light course load at Vanderbilt University, friends said. “She really loved Brown and talked about coming back over the summer,” said Stephen Backer ’05. Three friends who attended high school with Interlandi at the University School in Nashville are now at Brown. They often
Brown is one of few leading medical schools in virtual teaching campus watch, page 3
Majority of college students aren’t satisfied with the amount of sleep they get page 5
When Ken Robinson ’91 graduated from Brown, the political world was not immediately ready for him. Eleven years later, he will play a crucial role in the 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry (DMass.). Although Robinson said he always knew he wanted to work in politics, his first job after graduation was far from the world of primaries and press conferences. “Technically, I worked in a liquor store in Martha’s Vineyard,” Robinson said. “At the time, George H.W. Bush was president so there were not many jobs in the Democratic Party.” Since then, Robinson has risen in the political ranks and was recently named director of Kerry’s campaign in New Hampshire. Now Kerry will face competition within his own party for the nomination. Five other Democrats have already announced their candidacies. For Robinson, who is originally from Massachusetts, the opportunity to direct Kerry’s New Hampshire operations is a far cry from where he started. After studying history at Brown, and his brief tenure in Martha’s Vineyard, Robinson took his first political job as a field staffer for the 1992 presidential campaign of Bob Kerrey, former Democratic senator from Nebraska. He also worked on Jeanne Shaheen’s 1996 gubernatorial campaign in New Hampshire before serving as the executive director of the Democratic Party in that state for four years. Robinson served in this capacity until two weeks ago when he assumed his current position with the Kerry campaign. Of the thirteen presidential elections held since 1952, when New Hampshire began holding the first presidential primary each election year, the winning Democrat in New Hampshire has gone on to secure the party’s nomination seven times. Republican candidates who have won the New Hampshire primary have claimed the nomination 10 times. Robinson will be managing all the day-to-day affairs of the campaign, including hiring a staff and reaching out to activists in the state. He said he feels Brown helped prepare him for his political work. “In the environment at Brown, I had a great chance to interact with people very different from me from all different backgrounds — that is see ROBINSON, page 4
see INTERLANDI, page 6
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, F E B RUA RY 1 3 , 2 0 0 3 Studies say “race neutral” entrance does not substitute affirmative action campus watch,page 3
Robinson ’91 to play crucial role in 2004 campaign BY LOTEM ALMOG
Kerry Miller / Herald
see WHY U.S.?, page 4
www.browndailyherald.com
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Bush cannot equate Saddam Hussein with bin Laden, says Daniel Widome ’03 column, page 11
Women’s track and field places third in URI invitational last weekend sports, page 12
mostly sunny high 20 low 2